Well, I have some very unfortunate feedback. After dining last summer at Victoria and Albert's and finding it to be one of the best dining experiences of my life, I happily booked my 40th birthday celebration at Disney so I could dine here on my birthday (which was last week). While the evening started off fine, it was one incident after another and then it melted down to a bad ending
First off, I know there was a food & wine festival dinner there the same night because I contemplated booking it but decided I wanted the evening alone with my husband since we got the few hours away from the kids. I do believe this event overshadowed their normal dining service and I truly felt they were paying more attention to that event and other diners than us lowly nobodies.
We were sat in between two other tables and we were all sat about 5 or 10 minutes apart. Last time, our table was more isolated so I am sure that made the dinner better. So we certainly expected to hear the same spiel about the food but it was extremely annoying after awhile to hear the spiel, get it ourselves, then hear it at the next table. So what you might say when they have to memorize the menu? Well, even their friendly 'banter' was EXACTLY the same. It felt very rehearsed and not personable at all.
Well, the two tables next to us must have been 'somebodies' because they were treated extra special. The one table knew the sous chef and he came out to talk to them and the table next to us greeted some of the staff with hugs so they were being paid attention to very well. ALL the mistakes - and there were PLENTY - were made at our table (incorrect explanation of the food, over filling my water glass, misprouncing my name after I told them then corrected them, lack of service when we needed it, not listening to what food I wanted, and bumping into me as I walked to the bathroom). The worst is that as we are asking questions or talking to our servers, they would be looking at the other tables. It was like we were pests.
So do we pay for the service? UM YES. But let's get to the food...
My husband has a degree in culinary arts and has been a cook and a chef at many restaurants and while I do not hold a degree like that, I am familiar with fine dining an enjoy a variety of unique foods. We also have dined here before and knew how fabulous the food could be. It was NOT. I literally was getting sick from the food - it did not taste good and drank 6 full glasses of water to wash the taste out. I did not want to tell my husband because he was trying to make my birthday fabulous so when he went to the restroom and our lady server came over, I told her that something was wrong with the meat and could I please change my entree to something vegetarian. Her eyes got really big and she asked me if this was something new WITH ME!!! Like the food was fabulous and I must be vegetarian (after 40 years and a family ranch - um NO). I was made to feel like the chef was some artist that could do no wrong and I couldn't change my entree. I told her I would eat the veggies off the plate. I also asked for another piece of bread. Yes, I asked for something else because I didn't like the food and was denied. And those veggies, soaked in a bad meat sauce and they were crunchy and not cooked correctly
My husband did realize that I was not eating the food and finally he said that the food didn't taste good to him either. My husband who eats huge amounts of food plus mine couldn't eat those tiny bites either. We thought we would just enjoy our dessert and coffee and get some Bailey's on the rocks. Well, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Last time, they didn't charge us for the Bailey's and we overheard the server tell the table next to us that it was included with the wine pairing but then they charged us for it. Again, we were the nobodies.
My husband did ask and they didn't do a thing - didn't explain why the table next to us was treated differently nor did they take it off the bill. So $525 later, we left. My husband did talk to the manager and relayed our experience and frankly, I walked out I was so annoyed but she didn't do anything, well yet...We went to Mizner's to listen to the band and get a couple to go drinks for our walk back to the Polynesian. DH told the server he was really disappointed in V&A. As we were leaving the Grand Floridian, the V&A manager ran after us and gave us back the cash we paid for the drinks in Mizner's. I told her the drinks at Mizner's were fine, it was the dinner that wasn't good. She apologized and finally I told her that I just wanted to enjoy my birthday and not stand there and talk about my bad experience as everyone is staring at us.
Well, they had no issue charging us our $525 even though we headed back to the Polynesian to eat at Captain Cooks - seriously! And I'm a pretty tiny person so for me to be hungry after a fancy meal is ridiculous.
Oh, they did send me a basket in the room to say happy birthday - filled with autumn florals ???? Thanks for reminding me I'm getting old with autum florals and thanks for giving me nasty flowers and twigs that attract bugs and that I can't take home (nor would I want to - I HATE cut flowers - they are a waste of money, a pain to take care of and a waste of money). I would have preferred they took the $ off the bill and they SHOULD have.
I was not going to post this because I truly hoped V&A would contact us and talk to us but they have not. After receiving the full charge, DH was livid - he really thought they would at least take off the extra amount they charged us and that they should have not charged for all that bad food - food we complained about and even asked for other dishes and were denied. We did tip 20% because we have both been in the restaurant business and we know that the mistakes made were not horrible on their own and that everyone (even two people) can have a bad night. So it isn't like we stiffed anyone because maybe I could understand them not wanting to talk to us if we did. Well, so much for V&A. I really am sad about the whole thing. My birthday wasn't ruined but it is really disgusting that I planned my entire birthday TRIP around that restaurant. We were supposed to go to Hawaii but NO, I had to eat at V&A.